November 25, 2009

Floating, Etc

Earlier this week I very nearly experienced total nothingness.

No, I'm not beginning to post my depressing poetry on the Shimer blog. Actually, I visited a flotation tank a few days ago. As I'd mentioned in my last post I've been up to a lot these days. Now, though, the play is over and so is my class with the Neo-Futurists. And despite the fact that these past few days have been relatively calm, my adrenaline is still up. I'm still a little on edge. So I figured that some relaxation might not be a bad idea.

Here's how visiting a flotation tank works: you're greeted by a nice attendant who's so calm that if she were any more serene she might just cease to exist. She shows you the flotation tank - a big container filled with salt water tuned to the average human being's external body temperature. After a brief introduction to the tank, you get in and lie down.

Once you're inside the tank, you can't see anything and you can't hear anything. And since it's filled with salt water, you float without exerting the least bit of effort. At first the whole thing is really odd - I'll admit that I spent the first five minutes of the experience just giggling at the foreignness of the situation. But after I got over the initial weirdness of seeing the same thing regardless of whether I opened or closed my eyes - not to mention the whole floating thing - I was profoundly relaxed.

An hour passed and my time in the tank was up. Not long after that I was back in the real world. I felt a whole lot better.

Our last week of class begins soon, as does the intensely busy period known as Writing Week. I'm feeling pretty good now, but I wouldn't be surprised if I was feeling like another visit to the flotation tank in a few weeks' time.

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